Chapter 238: Blood Flows Down the Long Street

The sound of gunfire pierced the nearby chaos. As the Koban Patrol Officer collapsed into a pool of blood, the Public Security Police who were blocking the road in the distance realized something was wrong. At that moment, the SAT was clearing the stronghold, and the nearby Public Security Police immediately drew their pistols from behind their suits and sprinted toward the direction of the sound.

A six-man Public Security Police squad soon discovered there were victims.

"Hey? Are you okay? Hang in there!"

The Koban police officer, lying in a pool of blood, noticed the pistols and expressions of these men in suits. He suddenly understood why there had been gunfire and why he had encountered armed thugs.

Public Security is on an operation...

"Idiots..." the Patrol Sergeant said these final words before he stopped breathing.

"Call an ambulance! Call an ambulance immediately!"

The front-line channel was instantly in disarray.

"Section Chief, three members of the Kudo-kai have fled toward the national highway, requesting support immediately!"

"There is a death in the line of duty... confirmed to be a Koban police officer. Patrol Sergeant Yamada Shota of the Kanagawa Yamada-cho Koban has died in the line of duty!"

When the news reached the Countermeasure Command Center, almost all the police officers at the scene stood up upon hearing that an officer had died.

The faces of Counselor Onoda and Security Department Chief Kudo instantly drained of color. Chief Kudo grabbed the radio immediately: "SAT Team 2, divert and pursue! Expand the blockade radius to 5 kilometers—those three bastards have guns; they must not be allowed to take civilians as hostages!"

"Yes!" A flurry of urgent typing followed; the Countermeasure Command Center was in chaos.

A patrol officer died in the line of duty?

Uesugi Muneyuki thought this incident had become a major affair.

Human life is of paramount importance; at any time, the death of an officer in the line of duty is a major event!

All the high-ranking Public Security Police present felt their faces burning with heat.

It really was a case of "he who travels one hundred miles, half is ninety"—they were so close to a perfect conclusion, so how did this happen at the very end?

Just then, Superintendent Ichijo, who was in charge of command, picked up an HKPSG-1 without a word and left. Command of the scene was handed over to Public Security Department Counselor Kobe Takeru.

At this moment, everyone held their breath.

Fortunately, it was around 9:30 in the morning, and there were only some housewives on the street. Hearing the gunfire, the crowd scattered in fear. Since the Kudo-kai members hadn't fled far, the Public Security Police immediately began their pursuit, evacuating the crowd along the way.

Since the Cold War era, this was the first time in over twenty years that the people of Yokohama had encountered a gunfight between police and criminals.

Pursuing all the way with police cars blocking the roads, the Public Security gradually cornered the three Yakuza into a convenience store.

The Yakuza tried to take the convenience store clerk hostage, but the Public Security Police gave them no chance at all. The concentrated firepower along the way had already turned two of them into sieves. The last remaining Senior Executive, Kudo Geni, dashed into the convenience store, trying to find a hostage.

However, the convenience store clerks had already evacuated and hidden; there were no hostages.

"I surrender! I surrender!" The Yakuza leader realized he couldn't escape; there were police everywhere outside.

So he shouted, raised his hands, and slowly poked his head out from behind a shelf: "I surren—"

"Bang!"

A loud explosion erupted in the distance, and a sniper bullet accurately struck Kudo Geni in the forehead.

His head exploded directly, splattering the freezer behind him with a thick layer of brains.

Surrender your mother!

All the Public Security Police present cursed in their hearts.

This operation was supposed to be a great achievement, to be praised worldwide as a benchmark for the capabilities and heroic deeds of the Japan Public Security.

Who would have thought that such a thing would happen in the end?

In the distance, about 150 meters away, Superintendent Ichijo of the Metropolitan Police Department Public Security Bureau lowered the HKPSG-1 sniper rifle in his hands, but there was no joy on his face.

Someone died.

Now, things were troublesome!

"All suspects have been neutralized! Repeat, all suspects have been neutralized!" The report came again from the front: "No civilian casualties, repeat, no civilian casualties."

"The deceased is Yamada Shota of the Yamada Koban, under the Aoba Station of the Kanagawa Prefectural Police Headquarters, male, 33 years old. Vital signs have been lost, repeat, vital signs have been lost!"

The specific report came from the front. Hearing that an officer had died, everyone in the entire front-line countermeasure headquarters looked grim.

"In any case, it's over." Counselor Onoda, who was in charge of the operation, paused for a moment and stood up: "Thank you all for your hard work."

"Thank you for your hard work," came a chorus of responses from below.

"The operation to crack down on the Kudo-kai has concluded successfully, with no civilian casualties and one police officer dead in the line of duty. We regret his sacrifice," Counselor Onoda continued coldly: "In my view, this operation has drawn a successful conclusion to the Yokohama Case and the Tokyo Bay Serial Body Dumping Case. Although it is unfortunate that we lost an excellent officer, the other side actively opened fire on the investigation and shot and killed an officer while fleeing; their behavior is no different from that of extreme terrorists."

"Facing a Violent Group, we stood united and staked the honor of the police organization to crush their conspiracy. On this point, you need not blame yourselves."

Superintendent General Watanabe Eiji and Director of Security Kudo Tsuyoshi both nodded slowly. Watanabe Eiji's expression was as deep as an abyss, feeling great regret for the fallen patrol officer, while Kudo Tsuyoshi was relieved—not letting them get away was a victory.

"Let us proceed with this unified narrative when submitting the report to the Public Prosecutor's Office."

"Yes!!!"

After the massive response from below, Uesugi Muneyuki and Sugishita Ukyo stood up almost at the same time. Seeing him stand, Ikeda Erena also stood up immediately, following the man's pace.

Sugishita Ukyo blocked Counselor Onoda's path immediately, and the Investigation Division 1 Chief looked at Onoda with profound meaning.

Counselor Onoda stared coldly at his old acquaintance: "I am very busy, Ukyo. Let's discuss whatever it is later."

"The Kudo-kai opening fire in retaliation—that was your arrangement, wasn't it?" Sugishita Ukyo said with a smile, very politely, but his voice was trembling: "What a... brilliant plan!"

"Yare yare, I don't know what you are talking about," Counselor Onoda said calmly: "You should understand, Ukyo, that the Violent Group opening fire is a good thing for us."

"Ha↓i↑? Are you saying that because this incident led to the death of a police officer! It is a good thing?" Sugishita Ukyo suppressed his anger and continued to ask calmly.

"Did I kill that patrol officer? Or did I order the SAT to shoot a colleague? Why don't you go find the Yakuza who pulled the trigger instead of coming to me?" Counselor Onoda sensed his old partner's anger and responded with a rather indifferent attitude: "Besides, the fact that it was a police officer who died is the best of a bad situation."

"The police exist to protect the safety of the citizens. Using our sacrifice to exchange for the safety of the citizens is the very meaning of our organization's existence."

Sugishita Ukyo was silent. Seeing his old partner had nothing more to say, Counselor Onoda brushed him off and continued forward.

"Counselor." Only Uesugi Muneyuki followed closely behind.

"Anything else? Forensic Examiner Uesugi?" Onoda was slightly impatient: "The case is solved, the culprit Sasaki is dead, and the Kudo-kai has been wiped out. Why aren't you going back to rest?"

"But the reason for Igarashi Aiko's murder remains unknown, and we still cannot confirm why the Kudo-kai instructed Sasaki to cause the collision." Uesugi Muneyuki caught up to Onoda.

"Is that important?" Counselor Onoda's tone was as still as stagnant water: "If you find out, who are you going to hold accountable? The Yamaguchi-gumi behind the Kudo-kai? Or the Kanagawa Headquarters that has been taking bribes from the Kudo-kai all along? Or do you want to extend this to the commercial empire struggles behind Sumitomo Mitsui, or perhaps who Igarashi Masataka offended in his early years?"

"I am a Forensic Pathologist, all I have to do is make the facts clear!" Uesugi Muneyuki said firmly: "There is still one point of fact that is unclear!"

"You know you're a Forensic Pathologist? I thought you considered yourself some righteous Prosecutor from the Special Investigation Team or Public Security police." Chief Onoda stopped in his tracks: "Who do you think you are? If you like acting on your own so much, even Watanabe Eiji won't be able to protect you."

"I want to perform an Autopsy, on Kudo Geni." Uesugi Muneyuki said: "I am a Forensic Pathologist, let me finish the final leg of this case; don't you need the Forensic Examiner's report?"

"!!!" Onoda Kōken paused abruptly, squinting his eyes as he looked at Uesugi Muneyuki, finally revealing a hint of approval: "That's more like a Forensic Pathologist. You only need to be responsible for providing the forensic results and telling us your deductions; the rest of the matters will be handled by the organization. Only in this way can the Special Mission Unit last long, and your position as a Forensic Examiner can last long."

……………………

The long-street police-gangster shootout that occurred in Yokohama and the death of a police officer in the line of duty caused all of Japan to look on; in less than ten minutes, countless news vans and reporters had already blocked all the nearby streets solid, the reporters nearly shoving their microphones into the police officers' mouths, the camera shutters sounding one wave higher than the next.

And at this moment, Uesugi Muneyuki covered the body with a sheet and fell into deep thought.

"Uesugi, did you discover something?" the curious baby Eirina beside him asked with interest; she was very sleepy, but this time neither Minami nor Mikoto had followed, and having returned to the days of the two of them working cases together, she was very happy.

Because his head had been blown apart, Kudo Geni's Soul was incomplete, but it still triggered the Death Soul Contract, and in the dialogue, Uesugi Muneyuki learned from Kudo Geni.

He was also acting under the instructions of the Head, which is to say the Kudo-kai Chairman, to have Sasaki create a collision incident; that's right, the superiors indeed did not order Sasaki to kill anyone, only telling him to kidnap the person first and then wait for further instructions.

He didn't expect that Sasaki would actually kill the person.

This also proves that the transmission of information layer by layer has losses, and constantly giving instructions across levels to people with different personalities and different comprehension abilities often results in the result the person originally wanted and the result actually caused becoming unrecognizable.

The order came from the Secretary of a big shot; the big shot promised that after the matter was accomplished, they could obtain "goods" worth approximately 1 billion yen, coming from Southeast Asia.

Other than this, Kudo Geni knew nothing else.

Goods have always been coming from Southeast Asia, and Yokohama has smuggling channels; the Kudo-kai's guns are, the off-brand imitation shoes from some place are, and the 1 billion in goods are too; in short, establishing a super-large logistics distribution center would seriously affect some people's smuggling channels.

Perhaps they couldn't stop this national-level project, but at least they wanted to delay it for a period of time and make one last haul.

And in the Death Flashback, Uesugi Muneyuki noticed that when Kudo Geni encountered the attack, he ordered his subordinates not to open fire, but someone opened fire anyway; this Young Head of the Kudo-kai was furious but helpless and could only escape through a secret door, then encountered a patrol officer and had to open fire.

Among them was one most important key point, which was that when Sasaki reported that he had already killed Igarashi Aiko, they received instructions from the superiors saying that "that side" had already sent people to solve the problem, so there was no need to worry.

According to the context, it should be the big shot's side.

Takigawa Tsubasa, the big shot's lackey?

Uesugi Muneyuki felt that this was enough.

When he returns to Tokyo, he will discuss it with Senior Mai!

"Let's go, Master Eirina, let's go home." Uesugi Muneyuki squeezed out a smile and said to Eirina: "I miss the bed at Sakata Bridge."

The tall beauty's face turned crimson the moment she heard Uesugi Muneyuki say this, her features revealing a watery anticipation and charm, a bit shy yet unable to hold back her joy: "I missed it too!"

(End of this chapter)